Smush-Marry-Auction

The Times reports that the alleged Landseer portrait of arguably the Brontë sisters is going to be auctioned again by JP Humbert. As this is not the first time this announcement takes place (a first attempt was made in 2012) we reproduce what we already posted back then:

After selling two doubtful portraits of Emily Brontë (one and two), auctioneers JP Humbert are now selling this portrait of the 'Brontë sisters' (for a full discussion of the pros and cons of it actually showing the Brontës we suggest you grab something to eat/drink and read the comments of this post).

An auction house claims to have uncovered a previously unknown, rare portrait of all three Brontë sisters.
Until now, the National Portrait Gallery was believed to have the only surviving portrait of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, an 1834 oil on canvas painted by their brother, Patrick Branwell. But now an auctioneer in Northamptonshire claims to have found a group portrait allegedly painted by Sir Edwin Landseer, Queen Victoria’s favourite artist.
Jonathan Humbert, the auctioneer, said there was evidence to back up their claim and that they had had “a lot of interest from academics and they have all said ‘we can’t argue with it’.” It is expected to sell for about £40,000 when the online auction closes on Sunday. (Fariha Karim)

EDIT: Artnet and BBC News also cover the story.

Varsity interviews the historian Lucy Worsley:

Josh Kimblin: (...) There are generations of schoolchildren, who read Pride and Prejudice for their GCSEs or equivalent, who immediately associate the words “novel” and “author” with Austen – or perhaps Brontë.
Worsley: True. That used to be a film: “Austen vs. Brontë”. Like “Monster vs. Predator”.

More Austen, in the New York Times an article about the absence of death in Austen novels:

But Austen never killed off a major character. The absence is striking in light of the 19th-century works that followed hers, in the genre she helped pioneer — novels by Dickens, the Brontës, George Eliot in which death begins as much as it ends. Death creates orphans, the Victorians’ sprightly vehicle for social mobility — Oliver Twist, say, and Jane Eyre. (Radhika Jones)

A Brontë mention in the latest episode of Younger (S04E03: Forged in Fire). On Vulture:

A quick sidenote: The rival publishing gentleman is played by Aasif Mandvi, and I hope we see him again. In a game of literary Marry-Smush-Kill, he chooses to kill Virginia Woolf, smush Jane Austen, and marry Charlotte Brontë. Perfect answer. (Maggie Fremont)

Also in Vulture, a review of Lady Macbeth:

There are stunning shots of Katherine striding along the windswept coastal moors that summon comparisons to the Brontës and Hardy, but Northumberland borders the Scottish Lowlands and the trace of a brogue allies her not just with dominated women but dominated people of all kinds. (David Edelstein)

City A.M. and The Independent review the film The Beguiled:

Farrell’s Corporal McBurney, an Irishman straight off the boat who took another man’s place in the war for a paltry $300, is Mr Darcy and Heathcliff rolled into one unstoppable sexual tsunami. (Steve Dinneen)

At the same time, they have romantic yearnings for McBurney and view him as a Heathcliff figure. He is also a welcome antidote to the overwhelming tedium of their daily routine. They enjoy petting and pampering him. At first, thanks to his injuries, he is no immediate threat. (Geoffrey Macnab)

Austin American-Statesman recommends the play The Moors. ABC News on the upcoming Hobart's Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever. Mind the Gap (in French) has visited the Parsonage and Haworth. Pictures of Haworth and the Brontë country by A.C. Hale on Flickr.

An alert from the St Elmo Estate Festival (Naples, Italy), for today July 13:

Ad aprire il concerto la cantante napoletana Francesca Fariello che proporrà un live set durante il quale ogni brano di sua composizione, inserito nei suoi lavori discografici, verrà introdotto e “narrato” nei retroscena dell’ispirazione compositiva. Da letture tratte da Nieztsche, Apuleio, Liao Yimei e Brontë. Un emotional trip di musica d’autore e parola in cui l’artista con la sua voce, la sua chitarra elettrica ed i suoi manjira sarà affiancata in scena da Ernesto Nobili chitarra elettrica e Valentina Gaudini voce narrante. (Il Mattino) (Translation)

EDIT: Another alert from Miami, Florida. A reading by Rita Maria Martinez, author of The Jane and Bertha in Me:

Depot Street is coming to Miami!!! A must-see live band, Depot Street features an infectious combination of virtuoso musicianship, song choice spontaneity and BIG FUN that is a throwback to the days when Music Mattered More. The venue is North Miami’s legendary Luna Star Cafe (‘Nuff said). Depot Street will be preceded by a poetry reading by some of the South’s finest poets. Be there! (Source)

Luna Star Cafe
775 NE 125th St, North Miami, Florida 33161
July 13, 7:00 PM